Can’t think what motivated Keith Vaz to make a complaint about neighbouring Tory MP Andrew Bridgen to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. Vaz still hasn’t actually delivered on his threat to sue Bridgen for defamation – possibly because the allegations he makes are true. Anyway slippery Vaz has released a statement:

Right Honourable Keith Vaz MP said:

“I welcome the inquiry by the Commissioner, following the complaint made against me by Andrew Bridgen, the Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire, which will provide important clarification.

She has suggested that my complaint against Mr Bridgen should be referred to the Secretary of State for Transport and I will follow her advice.”

Apparently because Bridgen, like many who have a home in the path of HS2, sold it at a loss to the Department of Transport, he is guilty of something. The Standards Commissioner has basically told Vaz to get lost…

Tory MP Justin Tomlinson has been suspended from the Commons for two days for leaking a Public Accounts Committee report to Wonga. Extraordinarily, Tomlinson thought it acceptable to share a draft report on regulating consumer credit with a Wonga employee. The Wonga employee replied with a series of recommendations, which Tomlinson then put to his committee. The Standards Commissioner ruled he “committed a serious breach of the Rules of Conduct” and the Privileges Committee today found:

“Mr Tomlinson committed a contempt in disclosing a draft committee Report to a third party and that his actions constituted substantial interference in the work of that committee… We recommend that Mr Tomlinson apologise to the House by means of a personal statement and that he be suspended from the service of the House for two sitting days. These days should be consecutive and not be divided by non-sitting days or recesses which would inadvertently extend the period of suspension beyond that specified.”

The Privileges Committee say Tomlinson made no financial gain from the exchange of information. He did however nominate his local football team for a big money sponsorship deal from… Wonga. He’s lucky just to get a slap on the wrist…

Pictured here with Keith Vaz on the Commons terrace is a young Romanian man called Daniel Dragusin. The pair met shortly after Dragusin came to England in 2010. Soon after, Vaz began employing Dragusin as his “driver“. In 2012 Dragusin was awarded a parliamentary pass by Lord King, a close friend of Vaz. Former employees of Lord King say Dragusin never did any work for him. Dragusin has since landed a job at Vaz’s charity Silver Star. Crucially, it was he who processed the two £150 payments to Vaz’s rent boys…

This text exchange published by the Sunday Mirror is between Keith Vaz, on the left, and one of the rent boys, on the right. Vaz asks the rent boy if any of his Romanian friends want a job as a “driver“. The same job he offered Dragusin. Just who is this mysterious young Romanian “driver” who Keith Vaz helped secure access to the corridors of power? Curiouser and curiouser…

Tuesday’s Sun reported that between September 2013 and December 2014 Keith Vaz “often” stayed at the Washington Mayfair hotel, and “sometimes there were other young men with him”. The paper says Vaz does not appear to have been charged for the bookings. Receipts were signed off “As per Mr J. Sanger”, suggesting they were freebies from the hotel’s mega-rich Indian owner Joginder Sanger. MPs are required to declare all hospitality over the threshold in the Register of Interests:

“Over £660 for the total of benefits of whatever size from the same source in a calendar year”

Vaz made no declaration of free hotel stays in 2013 or 2014…

Just three stays plus a few drinks bills would have put Vaz over the threshold. Hotel workers suggest it was more regular than that:

“Keith Vaz would often arrive at very short notice. Sometimes there were other young men with him. There were a number of times when he didn’t stay the whole night. He would stay for just a few hours before checking out.”

If Vaz stayed there often and for free, the hotel rooms used for liaisons with young men should have been declared to the Commons authorities. All this seems so far removed from Vaz’s promise when he was first elected that he would only accept a workers’ wage and donate his parliamentary salary to his constituency Labour Party:

Somehow he has managed to make millions and the mystery source of his wealth is unexplained, least of all to his local Labour Party…

Leicester Tory councillor Ross Grant has told the Daily Politics that Keith Vaz must resign as an MP because “lawmakers cannot be lawbreakers”. Grant says it is nonsense to argue this is a private matter because Vaz broke the law by offering to supply a Class A drug. Another happy reader.

Sky and the Sun are reporting Vaz will step down from his select committee role. That won’t make the pressure go away…

Keith Vaz’s diabetes charity Silver Star made the front page of the Telegraph yesterday and was covered extensively in the Mail and the Sun. Theallegation – fiercely denied – is that the rent boys at Keith/Jim’s flat received money from a man linked to the charity. Silver Star deny this and have retained Carter Ruck, firing off letters to several newspapers complaining how unfair it is to have their name linked to this sordid affair. Carter Ruck usually charge £500 an hour. That’s a very expensive law firm for a relatively small charity…

Our client has been, for quite some time, aware that you have been maliciously spreading false and highly defamatory scuttlebutt about him. You know that these allegations are wholly false and it is troubling that a fellow Member of Parliament from a neighbouring constituency should be so recklessly indifferent as to the truth.

Mr Vaz has for some time now chosen to ignore your increasingly desperate attempts to besmirch him. Mainly because as you did so, the people to whom you spoke, including include your fellow conservative (sic) MP’s have told Mr Vaz. However, the time has come where our client will no longer tolerate your spreading of intentional untruths. We are writing to put you on formal notice that if this shabby behaviour continues our client will no longer turn a blind eye to this and take steps to sue you personally for libel and false privacy, conspiracy to injure and indeed any other appropriate torts, holding you personally responsible not only for damages but also costs.

This letter does not require a substantive response, but does require an acknowledgement of receipt so that it is abundantly clear you understand the jeopardy in which you now stand.

Who to believe; Keith Vaz, a well known liar caught consorting with rent boys, or the MP who called him a liar who consorted with rent-boys? Isn’t it all a bit late now Keith?

A team of BBC journalists was given high-level clearance to investigate serious sex allegations concerning Keith Vaz last year. The special unit was led by a reporter who specialises in sex crime stories. It interviewed a number of witnesses and found evidence that Vaz had cheated on his wife with young men.[…] Read the rest

Look back at Keith Vaz’s interventions in the Commons debate on drugs in January. Just eight months ago, Vaz told the House of his “great surprise” at revelations MPs had used poppers:

“The shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown), has said—this was a bit of shock for me after 28 years in this House—that Ministers have stood at the Dispatch Box having had poppers.

Keith Vaz was under police investigation over year ago on suspicion of financial corruption and historic allegations of under-age sex. Speaker Bercow was informed of this and fellow MPs demanded – Andrew Bridgen in writing – that he step down from his position on the Home Affair Select Committee.[…] Read the rest

Would he still hold celebrities to account? “Where there’s blatant hypocrisy, yes, of course. If you sell your wedding to OK! magazine for £1 million and are having an affair with one of the bridesmaids, do you have any right to say that the press shouldn’t run that?”

Paul Flynn’s crackpot plan to abolish MPs’ expenses receipts has been met with the contempt it deserves. He is one of Corbyn’s top allies but even the Labour leader’s team are slapping down his ridiculous proposal. Flynn wants it so MPs don’t have to reveal what they’ve spent your money on.[…] Read the rest

Images released by Virgin Trains show that honest and authentic Jeremy Corbyn staged that video in which he sat on a train floor and appealed for “public ownership” of the railways. Virgin revealed that the 67 year-old Labour leadership favourite walked past “empty, unreserved seats” prior to filming the video.[…] Read the rest

Simon Danczuk is advertising for a new parliamentary assistant. “Sex mad” spanking fan Danczuk, recently revealed to have engaged in a steamy unprotected romp with a 22 year-old on the desk in his constituency office – she said “I felt quite privileged to be in there with such a well-known MP. […] Read the rest